Please Help Our Beloved 'Asheville Global Report'

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WINNER OF 10 PROJECT CENSORED AWARDS
www.agrnews.org

Friends,

The Global Report has reached a turning point.

Two months ago, we made a tough but necessary decision: we discontinued the newsprint edition of our award-winning newspaper. We had achieved over eight years of weekly publication, thanks to the dedicated efforts of dozens of volunteers and the crucial support of our donors and sponsors. After many years of successfully publishing what many had considered to be one of the best available digests of crucial, under-reported news, we had to adapt to the changing economics of newspaper publishing, and the larger shift in how the public gets their news. While we were struggling economically to reach thousands of people through our newsprint edition, we were reaching millions through our website and satellite news program, at a much lower cost.

During this transition, we have continued to make changes to ensure that this important source of information is available as widely as possible. No less than internationally-known journalist and death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal contacted us immediately, to remind us that he and millions of other prisoners do not have internet access. Without the newsprint edition, these readers lost access to the news, and Mumia lost access to one of his main sources. Mumia called the Global Report "one of the best I've seen," saying that he often relied on our reporting in composing his weekly radio commentaries. We took action, creating a new print edition of the Global Report. This newsletter format is now available every week for free PDF download from our website, and readers around the country have become volunteer printers of the Global Report, distributing copies where they live and work, and sending copies to their friends in prison, including Mumia.

Following the end of the newsprint edition, we have been energized by the hope that the rest of our 501(c)(3) non-profit mission would not only continue, but thrive. Our greatest source of optimism is that our television program has recently been picked up for syndication by Free Speech TV on the Dish satellite network. Although we no longer have our 3,000-copy newspaper, our TV show is now available in 28 million homes, reaching more people than ever. Our radio show and website have also thrived, themselves reaching an even greater mass of people starved for accurate and relevant reporting on social and environmental issues.

But the newspaper’s departure dealt a blow to the rest of our organization. Though the newspaper accounted for much of Global Report’s expenses, it also provided some of our established sources of income, through subscriptions and advertisements. The result is that we now depend more than ever on donations from individual viewers and readers. We have never received large foundation grants, and we have no wealthy backers. We now rely almost entirely on small and medium-size contributions made by readers and viewers like you. Put simply, the Global Report will only continue to exist with your help.

Unfortunately, donations have flagged recently, perhaps due to disappointment at the cancellation of the newsprint edition. The irony is that the newspaper was the Global Report medium that reached the fewest amount of people. At the same time, more and more people are reading, watching, and listening to our efforts every day. Our web traffic has more than doubled in the past year. In terms of rotation on Free Speech TV, our program is second only to Democracy Now!, broadcasting two to three times daily.

As a result of this dramatic new level of exposure, the Global Report has started to receive some incredible feedback. Thom Guidry, from Joplin, Missouri, wrote us just yesterday to say:

"Just a note of appreciation for your contributions on AGR TV. I have recently 'woke up' after being 'one of the sheep' for years...never questioning our government. It is refreshing to be tuned into the facts once again. As a Vietnam Era veteran, I am sickened by the Iraq war....both in precious loss of life and financial expenditures. I am doing my part by letters and emails to my elected representatives, pleading that they 'do the right thing' by voting to end the war and consider impeachment proceedings on Bush and Cheney. Thank you again, AGR News."

At the same moment that the Global Report would appear to be reaching a greater critical mass audience than our newspaper ever possibly could, we are confronted with the need to raise funds immediately. The recent downturn in donor support has threatened the financial health of the organization, which is critical to all the work we do.

The good news is that helping the Global Report is now easier than ever. By no longer shouldering the expenses of the newspaper, any donation goes much further in helping to sustain our efforts. Your support counts more than ever now, and your donation makes more of a difference as well.

We also invite you to download our weekly PDF newsletter from our website. Become a volunteer printer! You can print as many copies of the newsletter as you like, and distribute them as you see fit. We appreciate your help in getting the print edition out to the public, and especially to people in prison and others without internet access.

But even for this to continue we need your help right away. We urgently ask you to please consider making a donation to Asheville Global Report today.

We feel that we’re finally on the verge of attracting the type of support the Global Report needs to not only sustainably continue providing our acclaimed, free news service, but grow like never before. The only way this long-elusive dream will be realized though is if enough of you out there pitch in and help now.


If everyone reading this appeal donates just 25 dollars, we will have the support we need. If you can give more, we thank you. If you can only afford to give five or ten dollars, we thank you. We depend, not on contributions from a wealthy few, but from many of our individual supporters making small donations. We depend on you.

As always, we can’t thank you enough for reading.

Best wishes,

Eamon Martin & Brendan Conley, Asheville Global Report

To make a tax-deductible donation, please send a check or money order to:

Asheville Global Report
PO Box 1504
Asheville, NC 28802

OR

You can also donate by using the PayPal function on the right-hand side of our home page, agrnews.org

Please help! We exist solely because of reader and viewer support.